Allo Darlin' highlights summer concert slate

Touring is never an easy proposition. It’s long nights followed by longer days and a lot of waking up to unfamiliar surroundings.

But it’s even more difficult when you’re a musician and you don’t have instruments.

Allo Darlin’ came to The Bishop on Tuesday night with a full band but lacking those musical means.

“We’re in a position where we can’t afford a van and stuff to haul around here for four weeks,” bassist Bill Botting said. “We’ve been asking other bands to borrow, not as bad tonight though, we really had a lot of  help.”

Thanks to show promoter Dan Coleman and Tim Smiley,the sound guy at the Bishop, the group quickly rounded up a few instruments from Russian Recording studios courtesy of Pete Schreiner.

“They were actually in the middle of recording the Calumet Reel at the time,” Coleman said. “So I just borrowed whatever wasn’t being used.”

They at least worked well enough to play the group’s laid back, twee tunes.

With a diminished summer student body, the crowd was smaller in size from top to bottom. Openers Best Friends and Lovers played to handfuls of people who swayed and ingested the performance with a cool enthusiasm.

By the time Darlin’ took the stage, audience numbers were certainly at their highest, but the collective calm remained.

“It’s definitely a different crowd than the other night,” Darlin’ guitarist Paul Rains said. “We had a sellout in Chicago which we were unprepared for and was really unexpected.

“This one was definitely a listening crowd, but we like that. It’s more laid back, there’s room for people to pay attention.”

The London-based quartet also consists of drummer Mikey Collins and vocalist Elizabeth Morris, the latter of whom charmed the crowd with her accent and humility, thanking the audience after every song.

“This is our first time in Bloomington,” she told the crowd, to which a couple people quickly responded “Come back!”

The band was greatly appreciative of the crowd that was there, putting on a set that was tightly executed, especially considering the borrowed instruments. When they finally exited stage left, they did so to warm applause and a shower of hearty thanks and compliments.

The show was the second of four shows in June, presented by Spirit of 68, Coleman’s company. Orgone plays at Max’s Place this Friday and Times New Viking rounds out the month on June 30 at The Bishop.

July is a much more packed slate that also features some much bigger names, such as Bon Iver, Gang Gang Dance, Kurt Vile and several more. It’s a month that features a diverse collection of genres with one commonality: the ability to put on a great show.
“I just happen to have a good run of shows right there in the middle of the month that I’m really excited about,” Coleman said. “July is a big month, a lot like April.”

Darlin’ left Bloomington with great impressions, Botting said. “We really didn’t know what to expect. It’s been great, but we didn’t know what sort of town it was.”

Botting and the rest Allo Darlin’ learned it’s the kind of town with listening crowds — a town where bands from across the Atlantic can borrow last-minute instruments from down the street.